It Runs in the Family
by fringeperson
Summary: Haru did it, now she's got her kid doing it, but the circumstances aren't exactly the same... so how it turns out is anyone's guess. I don't own any of the CR charas.
1. Next Generation

**Chapter 1; Next Generation**

"Mummy, what is that kitty trying to do?"

Haru looked, following the line of her son's finger, and saw a sleek grey cat with white tips on her ears and a gold collar looking up and down the street. She gasped.

"Grab her quickly," she instructed her little boy, urgency in her voice. Perhaps this would be bad parenting, but Haru was a single mother. Her first boyfriend had gotten himself drunk; then he'd beaten and raped her. Her patella, or kneecap, had been shattered during the incident, and now she needed a walking stick. If she were not so inhibited, Haru would have grabbed up the cat herself, just as she had all those years ago.

Her nine-year-old snatched the young tabby by the scruff of her neck just as the car whizzed past, and brought the cat back to his mother.

"Here she is Mummy," he said, cradling the young cat in his arms.

Haru sighed, sat down on a bench and motioned for her little boy to climb up next to her. Taking the young cat, the young woman recognised the mismatched eyes of the royal line, and shook her head.

"You would think Lune would teach his children to be more careful on human roads," she murmured, checking the tabby over to make sure she was all right. Finding not a scratch on her, Haru turned to congratulate her boy.

"Why is the kitty so special Mummy?" he asked.

"She just is, but I tell you what, if you have a funny dream tonight about a lot of cats, I'll explain in the morning. Come on, let's get this little one safely across the road," Haru said, settling the cat in one arm and taking hold of her son's hand.

The cat, not really much more than a kitten, was stunned by what had just happened, but seemed to recover when the woman put her down on the other side of the street she had been about to cross.

"For next time," Haru said, meeting her brown eyes with the felines red and blue ones. "Cross at the crossing lights with all the people, then you won't get run over."

"Thank you," said the cat, standing up and bowing. "I don't know how to thank you and your son for what you did for me today," she added.

"That's alright," Haru said, holding her little boy close and leaning on her walking stick. "Now go on, I'm sure everyone at home is very worried about you."

The cat bowed again and ran off.

"The kitty talked Mummy, and you talked back!" said her son, his big hazel eyes even bigger with wonder and surprise.

"Yes Muta," Haru said, smiling fondly down at the little boy she had named after her favourite fat cat. Perhaps it was strange, naming a child after an overweight feline, but when she first saw him, he had reminded her so much of the old grouch that she couldn't help it.

He wouldn't talk about anything else for the rest of the day, bouncing everywhere and exhausting his mother. The child still hadn't calmed down when they got home that night and Haru was combing his black hair for him while he brushed his teeth before bed.

"Muta, you must sleep now," Haru said, tucking her son into his bed. "I know you had an exciting day, saving a talking cat from being hit by a car, but if you want to have any energy tomorrow, you have to sleep now."

"Tell me a story first?" he asked, snuggling down and beginning to feel the effects of a very busy day.

Haru sighed and sat down near his feet. He wasn't a very long child yet, so from there she could still reach up and cup his slightly chubby cheek in her hand.

"Alright," she said, giving in – though she enjoyed telling bedtime stories as much as little Muta enjoyed hearing them.


	2. Bedtime Story

**Chapter 2; Bedtime Story**

Once upon a time, long, oh, very long ago – before you, my dear son had even been thought of – a great prince fell in love. Don't pull faces, everyone falls in love eventually, even you will some day.

The prince wanted to marry the girl that he loved, but his father wanted him to marry another girl, a princess from a foreign land, but here's the catch, the princess didn't want to marry the prince any more than he wanted to marry her.

The king kidnapped the princess and dressed her up ready for the wedding, even though she didn't want anything to do with it. The prince couldn't do anything about it though, because he was away from the kingdom, marrying his love in secrecy.

The king was a foolish king, and had forgotten about the princess's private bodyguard. He followed after the kidnapped princess, determined to rescue her and take her back to her kingdom.

The bodyguard snuck into the palace and pretended to be an entertainer of the court, in this way he would get close enough to the princess to whisk her away from her captors.

The king wanted to see the princess smile and when entertainer after entertainer failed, he lost his temper and no one wanted to risk their lives on their show. The bodyguard stepped up and promised the king that he would make the princess smile, and asked her to dance.

The princess didn't like to dance, she often stepped on the toes of her dance partner, but she got up anyway and danced with him. She didn't recognise him because he was wearing a mask – he wore a mask because if she had recognised him at once, he would have been thrown out, and she would never be rescued.

The bodyguard whispered to the princess while they danced, so that the king would not be able to hear them, but the king recognised that the bodyguard was not one of his usual entertainers and ordered the musicians to stop playing. The bodyguard fought off the king's soldiers for as long as he could, and in the confusion, the prince's best friend helped the princess and her bodyguard escape from the palace.

To leave the kingdom though, they had to get through a huge maze. The prince's best friend knew the way, but he couldn't help them – he had to tell the prince what his father was doing.

Just when the princess and her bodyguard were almost out of the maze, the king appeared, blocking their way. He challenged the bodyguard to a duel for the princess, and they were just preparing to fight when the prince arrived with his wife and ordered everyone to stop.

He let the princess and her bodyguard go, and they had nearly reached her palace when the king found them again, crazed from the defiance of his son and determined to fight, saying that if his son was too foolish to want the princess, that _he_ would marry her instead.

The bodyguard and the king fought long and hard, but in the end, it was the bodyguard who won, and he took the princess home safely.

"And they all lived happily ever after," Haru finished, whispering, because her little Muta was almost fast asleep. She kissed him goodnight and went to bed herself, turning off all the lights as she went.


	3. 7 Years Later

**Chapter 3; Seven Years Later**

"Hey Mum, d'you think cats can talk?" Muta asked his mother when he got home from school. It was the last day for the year, and there were stains on his uniform from playing soccer with his classmates.

"You really have a terrible memory. Of course they can," Haru said, moving from the bench to the stove, making dinner. "Why do you ask honey?"

"Coz I just caught one that was gonna land on the road and get turned into road pizza, and it said thank you," he said, sitting down at the table.

Haru laughed quietly to herself.

"Saving cats just runs in the family," she said, loading two plates with food and bringing them, one at a time because she also had to handle her cane, to the table.

"When you were nine, remember? You grabbed a cat when it was just about to walk into a car," Haru informed him as they were finishing their meal.

"Yeah, I remember, you were so worried about it I just grabbed it up, and you talked to it," Muta said, the old memory resurfacing. "I'll clean up Mum, you get some rest."

"You're a good boy, Muta," Haru said, covering a yawn.

o0o

"MUM!" Muta yelled from the kitchen the next morning, shocked by what he was seeing.

"What's the matter dear?" Haru said, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes as she slowly made her way to the kitchen window to stand beside her boy.

The lawn was covered in cattails.

"You dreamt of cats last night, didn't you?" Haru accused, jabbing a finger at her boy. "Show me the scroll they gave you, right now." The nearly-forty-year-old woman said, her brown eyes lit up with the fire of youth, an adventure she had had before, replaying.

Muta stammered. His mother had never been so sharp with him, but he was terrified by how much she knew as well, and ran to get the scroll she had somehow known about without being told.

"Check your pockets," she ordered, taking the rolled up piece of scrappy looking paper from her boy and unrolling it. "Cattails, catnip, mice, cat. Congratulations my boy, you just got yourself betrothed to the princess of the cat kingdom," Haru informed her son.

"What? I can't marry a cat – I have a date with Ishii tomorrow," he said, staggering under the impact of his mother's words.

"Good thing I have some connections then, isn't it? Though you may want to call Ishii and make it the day after tomorrow," Haru suggested, rolling up the scroll again and handing it back to her son.

"I recommend packing a lunch for us while I get dressed," she said, heading back to her room. "It's going to be a long weird day."

Muta could hardly believe that his mother was smiling when she said that. How could anything good come of this? What kind of connections did she have that would get him out of marrying a cat? Moreover, how the heck did she know what these weird little symbols meant? He couldn't ask her though, he knew his mother: she wouldn't tell him.

He had a decent picnic in his backpack by the time Haru returned, dressed – in Muta's opinion – very strangely, particularly given the circumstance.

Haru wore a pair of jeans when she usually wore skirts, and a white shirt, but a _shirt_ shirt, rather than a t-shirt or normal top. It was almost like she was going for a job interview. Muta thought so anyway. His mother looked strangely formal, and he wasn't used to it, not at all.

"Ready to go?" she asked. She was even using her favourite cane, the one she used for fancy occasions like functions or his graduation.

Muta affirmed that he was, and followed her out of the house, locking the door behind them.

Haru moved with more spring in her step and greater speed than she had for years, decades even, as she lead her son to the Crossroads to find the fat cat he had been named after. A smile crept onto her face at that thought – they were both in for a shock.


	4. Two Muta's

**Chapter 4; Two Muta's**

There he was, sitting on a wrought-iron chair that had been painted white, lazing in the sun.

"Hello old friend," she said, scratching him behind the ears.

Renaldo Moon turned to see who was scratching him so perfectly, and stared.

"Is that you Haru?" he asked, standing up and turning around properly to look her up and down. She wasn't a schoolgirl any more.

"Sure is," she said, a large smile on her face. "It's been a long time, and I'm afraid I'm back with much the same problem."

"You save _another_ royal cat?" he demanded, suddenly grouchy.

"Not me," she said, holding up the cane. "Wouldn't be fast enough. No, it's my boy," Haru explained, waving her son up to meet the old fatso. "Could you take us to see the Baron please? I'd deal with it myself, but I'm in no fit shape for doing all that running."

The fat cat nodded and padded off, not so fast as he had done the last time Haru followed him, out of deference to her needing a cane, and he didn't climb over roofs this time either, for which the aging woman was glad.

"Mum, where are we going?"

"The Cat Bureau," she said as they sidled carefully up a tiny dirt track between two buildings. "There it is," she added, sighting the arch that was the entrance to the courtyard of the refuge that held the Bureau.

"I love the light show the Baron does, but I suppose it's the wrong time of day," she whispered to her boy as their fat cat guide headed for the door.

"Miss Haru!" the hoarse cry came from within the little yellow house with green trim, and lights flashed all around.

"One and the same," she answered, hiding the cane as much as she could.

_Mum? It's like she's trying to be young and stylish or something…_ Muta thought, staring at his mother incredulously as the lights died away.

"Only I don't think it's 'Miss' any more, Baron," said the fat cat quietly as the door to the Bureau opened and the elegant cat figurine stepped out of his home and office.

"What makes you say that Muta?" Baron asked, pausing to look down at the lounging fat cat.

"That's her son hovering behind her," he answered, tilting his head at the young man.

"Actually, it _is_ still Miss," Haru said, smiling bashfully. "My Muta here is the result of a violently drunken boyfriend, so's the cane, but…" she didn't finish, just shrugging her shoulders.

Her son had gawped when the orange cat – wearing a suit – had come out of that little house and called the fat cat Muta. The fat cat, in return, had also stared, slack-jawed, to see that Haru had named her son after him.

"Miss Haru, what happened?" Baron asked, concerned.

Haru waved her hand, attempting to brush the topic away.

"It happened a long time ago, and I had doctors, therapists, lawyers, my mother and lots of friends there to help me through it. It's Muta who's got the problem this time," she said, trying not to blush under the Baron's intense green gaze.

_After all those years,_ Haru thought, _it must actually be love, rather than just some silly little high school crush_.


	5. Just Say No

**Chapter 5; Just Say No**

Toto laughed when he woke up to find the old fatso struck dumb, and was as pleased as everyone else to see Miss Haru again, though he questioned her reasoning behind naming her son after the fattest cat in history, and one with a criminal record no less.

For a while they all just caught up, but got down to business over the picnic lunch Haru had gotten her son to pack.

Muta explained about the cat procession, produced the scroll, and admitted, rather sheepishly, that when one of the cats had asked him what he thought of a cat's life, he'd said it sounded great.

"They'll be for him tonight then," said the senior Muta, shovelling a sandwich into his mouth.

Haru, Baron and Toto all nodded.

"I don't care what happens," Haru started, rolling her cane between her fingers. "I'm going to the Cat Kingdom if they take my boy."

"But Miss Haru –" said her friends, all at once, shocked at her willingness – her determination – to return to that place that had almost turned her into a cat once already.

Haru shook her head at them. "There won't be any stopping me," she said, wrapping an arm around her son.

"Thanks Mum," he said, hugging her back. He was a mother's boy at heart, having grown up taking care of her almost as much as she took care of him, because of her knee.

They all talked and tried to think of ways they might be able to help Haru and her son with their predicament. Everyone was aware of the fading light; still it surprised them when the cat showed up.

"Time to go to our kingdom Master Muta!"

Haru recognised the smarmy, idiotic caramel-brown cat who had carried her off decades before. She was surprised that he was still alive, but strode over to him, hardly using her cane, and picked him up by the scruff of his neck.

"Cat," she said, staring him in the eye. "You are not taking my son unless you take me too."

"Okay," he said, still smiling. "We'll just need a few more cats to carry you."

Haru dropped him and watched him scamper a little way off before returning to hold tightly to her child, bracing herself for the ride on the backs of a swarm of cats.

"Really Miss Haru, I do not think this wise," Baron said, concerned for her safety and health.

"I'm almost an old woman, Baron, let me have one last adventure before I can't have any more, Muta's the one who matters now," she said, a slightly sad smile on her face. It wasn't an appealing future, a life without this kind of excitement.

The carpet of cats swarmed around her and her son, and together they landed on them, carried away to the Cat Kingdom.

Muta made objections the whole ride, shaking the brown cat and yelling at him sometimes, it didn't make a dent. The cat really was too stupid to understand that a person really didn't want to be a cat.

Haru just sat quietly and tried to enjoy the ride, holding tightly to her cane. She didn't know if she would need it or not in the Cat Kingdom, but she didn't want to be caught without if she did need it.


	6. The Cat Kingdom

**Chapter 6; The Cat Kingdom**

It was just as Haru remembered it, except that she hadn't landed heavily on hard ground this time, the cats had been prepared for all the weight, and she and her son landed just in front of the castle, on target.

"Muta," she said quietly, taking his hand as he helped her up – their furry ride had disappeared and left them on the ground. "Some warning ahead of time, you and I are very likely to start turning into cats at some point while we're here."

"We'll wha-?"

"Don't worry, as long as we're out by our dawn, we'll be fine," she promised, pointing to his watch, silently telling him to keep an eye on the time. "Still noon here, I see – always noon here."

She led the way, heading for the door of the palace. The brown cat that had brought them met them just inside and escorted them to the dressing rooms.

"Might I enquire after their majesties?" Haru asked, covering her jeans and shirt with a fine yellow gown – the same gown, she was almost sure, that she had worn the last time she was here. Only this time, she didn't have to wear the ridiculous ruffle or any of the gaudy jewellery.

"Argh!" Haru recognised her son's voice.

Taking a firm hold of her cane – reassured that she still had fingers to do that with – Haru left her dressing room for that of her son.

"I did warn you, Muta dear," she said, wrapping her arms around his shoulders. His short fur was dark, but not quite as black as his hair, and he was wearing a suit for the second time in his life. "I suppose it wouldn't be consoling to say that you're still handsome?"

He shook his head and started crying into her shoulder.

"Come on, we've got to see their majesties now," she said, kissing his now furry nose. "Chin up."

"You're still you, Mum," Muta said, wiping the tears away with his paw as he followed behind their guide – the idiot brown cat.

"I've been here before, I have a slightly better idea of how to stay me," she whispered. They had reached the banquet hall where all the courtiers, entertainers and the King and Queen of the Cat Kingdom waited for them when…"Oops, there I go," she said, feeling her tail swishing around beneath the dress. She was fairly sure her ears were cat-like now too.

"Mum?" Muta said.

Haru could hear the fear in her son's voice, and smiled, squeezing his hand.

"The trick is believing in who you are," she said. "You're a young man with a girl back home, you just started to feel at home here, that's all. I really hope they fixed the tower," she added to herself.

"The Cat King, Lune, and his Queen, Yuki, welcome Master Muta and his mother," announced the brown cat.

"My name," she said, quite clearly as she took her seat beside her son. "Is Haru."

Everybody gasped.

"Oh, you remember me, that's nice."

"Miss Haru? Is that really you?" Yuki was leaning around the table, staring at her old friend.


	7. The Difference

**Chapter 7; The Difference**

"Yes Yuki, it really is. It's good to see you again," Haru said, smiling.

They were up and embracing each other before anyone realised that they had even moved, which considering that Haru is reliant upon her walking stick, is quite something.

"I find it hard to believe that this was _your_ idea after _last_ time…" Haru said, sitting down again, smiling as she politely refused all food. She held tightly to her son's paw with her hand – she'd managed to keep those, she was pleased to see – as she talked.

"It isn't," Yuki answered, sighing. "The old king still believes that humans make more handsome partners, and our daughter … well, she hasn't quite learned yet that humans make better humans than cats. Did you go to the Bureau?"

"Oh yes, first thing, but I know a little about your errand-fool, so all we could do was insist that I come too. Is the escape hatch still –" Haru pointed surreptitiously to the next table over, one that was filled with food but had no cats sitting at it.

Yuki nodded. "And the tower's been fixed, so you'll come out on ground level this time," she whispered. "We just need a distraction so that you and your son can get away."

"Presenting her Royal Highness, Princess Kana!"

Everyone turned. It was the same cat Haru had made her son rescue when he was nine, and obviously the same cat he had caught the day before.

"She really is lovely," Haru confided in her friend. She glanced around the room to see how the rest of the court reacted to the lovely grey cat dressed all in black with diamonds, and her brown eye caught upon a familiar hat in the crowd of entertainers. "Is the labyrinth rebuilt also?"

"No, we just fixed the tower."

"Will you please tell Muta about the escape, I think I'm about to create a distraction," Haru whispered, straightening in her chair as Lune called for entertainment.

The girl, no longer young, though still young at heart, smiled dreamily as the tall orange cat stepped forward and asked her to dance.

"I don't know how good I'll be, but alright," she said, slipping her bare hand into his gloved one.

Muta was surprised to see his mother leave her cane behind, and even more surprised to see her dancing. A tap at his shoulder drew his attention away from his mother and he listened to what the white queen whispered in his now very feline ear.

"Your mother is a divine dancer," said the princess, smiling over at him briefly. "Does it run in the family?" a suggestion in her bright, mismatched eyes.

"No, I'm afraid not," Muta answered, running his fingers over his mother's cane. "I'm more of an eater than a dancer, I'm good at running though," and so saying, he made a dash for the little door that would lead to his eventual freedom, dropping the cane in his mother's seat.


	8. Divergent Paths

**Chapter 8; Divergent paths**

"Stop him!" cried the princess, shocked rather than angry. "And don't let his mother get away!" The idea that he would stay for his mother's sake one that quickly asserted itself in her brain.

The entertainer, who had been dancing with Haru, wrapped his arms around her firmly, a smile on his orange lips.

"I think I need my cane, I shouldn't have danced," she said weakly, letting her weight rest on her good leg and the arms of her dance partner. The wondering strength that had kept her upright through the dance was gone, and she felt like the old woman that she was again.

The disguised Baron helped Haru to her seat, where her cane rested, and knelt beside her – a private guard – while the princess gave orders for her fiancee's return.

"Muta is waiting for your son at the base of the tower," Baron whispered, his voice covered by the noise of guards searching. "Don't worry, we'll get you both out in time."

"As long as _he_ gets out in time, that's all that matters," Haru answered, slipping her fingers out from between the Barons and resting back in her chair. "He's got a date tomorrow, all I've got is a cane."

Baron's green eyes grew wide behind the mask. "You mustn't say things like that, you have a son who loves you, and –"

Haru put a finger over his mouth, silencing him. There was a slightly sad smile on her brown, feline features.

"I know all that," she said. Haru took her finger from the Baron's lips and cupped her hand around his cheek. She knew what it felt like to have a crush on somebody, she knew what it was like to love a child when all he did was scream and make mess, and she knew what she felt towards the Baron.

"There he is! Who is that fatso with him?" demanded the princess, leaning half-out the window, staring after her chosen betrothed.

"That, Kana, is Renaldo Moon," Lune said, standing beside his daughter. "Let the boy go, if he doesn't want to marry, do not force him."

"He's being dragged away," Kana pointed out, coming back in the window.

"Help me up please," Haru whispered to Baron, taking hold of her walking stick. He did, and walked with her to the window. Sure enough, the large white cat was dragging the smaller one, simply because her coal-grey son didn't want to leave his mother behind, and was dawdling.

"Muta, you have a date tomorrow, you're not picking an invalid over that," she whispered to herself angrily. "Run boy, I'll be fine!" she yelled out, her lungs still in fine working order.

Haru saw him stumble, but when Moon picked him up by the scruff again, they ran, both of them, her son no longer hesitating for want of his mother.

"You will regret that," Kana said, turning from the sight of the two Muta's running, to face Haru and her still disguised champion.

"Will I? Young kitten, I have been stolen and put through hell, I have been beaten and raped, I have endured five hours of labour, and I once jumped in front of a truck to save the life of a cat. I didn't regret any of these things, why should I regret this? This merest thing that any mother would do – look out for the safety of my child?"

"I could have you punished for it," Kana said; though it was a weak suggestion in the face of all that Haru had just said. The elegant grey still was, in many ways, a kitten.

"No you couldn't," Lune said, laying a paw on his daughter's shoulder, a grim warning in his voice. "Miss Haru saved _my_ life, she saved your _mother's_ life, you will not thank her for that by punishing her for doing what is right." The king had spoken, his word was law, his daughter bowed in submission when the shock had passed.

"Baron," said Yuki, coming to stand behind her husband. She recognised the costume, she knew that he was the only cat with hands. "Take Miss Haru home, that is where she belongs."

He bowed to the queen, then the king. With a nod to the princess, he swept Haru off her feet and carried her down the stairs to the back of the castle, where the tower to her world waited for them.


	9. Going Home Again

**Chapter 9; Going Home Again**

"Muta, are you sure my mother will be alright?" the boy asked, staring at the surface of the lake he had burst through as he left the Kingdom of Cats behind. He was himself again, black hair, hazel eyes, no fur or tail to be seen.

"Kid, relax," answered the old fatso, stretching on the grass. "Chicky knows how to take care of herself, and Baron won't let anything bad happen either," he added, overruling the objection of how Haru had a bad knee before it could be made.

Toto arrived and perched on the boy's shoulder. "You have nothing to worry about," he promised.

The three stayed where they were though, desperate to see Baron and Haru erupt from the lake before the sun rose. There was still time, only a couple of stars had winked out for the night… then more, then more. The grey time before dawn came, and neither mother, nor figurine, were anywhere to be seen.

"What could be taking them so long?" Muta asked, turning to look at his namesake, but the retired criminal was asleep. "Toto?" he asked, turning to the giant crow still perched on his shoulder.

"Miss Haru needs a cane now, doesn't she?" he pointed out gently. The knowing bird didn't add that Baron would probably carry her most of the way to the exit, let the child take comfort wherever it may come from.

"You think her bad knee could be slowing them down?" he asked, still worried, but hopeful that it would only be something minor.

"If I know anything, kid, it's that it sure _won't_ be the royal family holding her hostage," the bird answered, sounding even more confident than he felt, just to help the young man.

The sun started to creep over the horizon.

"Good _grief_! This dress is _heavy_ when it's wet," a familiar voice said, carrying across the still lake surface.

There had been no great eruption, at least not that Muta could see, but the lake was vast, and his mother's voice was coming from the other side of it. He was up and running, desperate to reach her, to know that she was safe and well.

"Let me help you Miss Haru," those were the clipped tones of the Baron.

Toto took off from Muta's shoulder and flew ahead, searching for the owners of the voices near the shores.

"One heavy dress, gone. Now we just have to reach the shore," Haru said, and splashing could be heard.

Muta stopped dead. His mother had stripped in the lake and was swimming with a cat figurine. He was still wearing his tux from the Cat Kingdom, he didn't have anything else to wear after all – he'd taken off his normal clothes and put these ones on. The idea of running into his mother naked frightened him.

"Will you be able to swim and hold onto your cane at the same time?" Baron's voice carried, polite and concerned. The boy swallowed, and felt his face turning red as he listened to the conversation. "Perhaps, if you hold onto mine as well, I could hold onto you and swim us both to shore," suggested that polite, aristocratic voice. The dark haired boy was beginning to think of this supposed hero as a pervert.

There was the sound of gentle sloshing, and then the steady splashes of someone pulling long strokes.

When the strokes stopped and the sound of two people splashing out of the water began, Muta searched the shoreline. There was Renaldo Moon, still asleep where he had been left, but that was all that the dark-haired boy could see.


	10. Reunited

**Chapter 10; Reunited**

"Oh Baron, your suit is soaked," Haru said, standing up on the shore, putting her weight on her cane and handing over the other to the cat doll. "It's not ruined is it?"

"No, it will dry, but your dress, Miss Haru, is most certainly ruined," Baron answered, his green eyes light with gentle humour as he looked out over the lake's surface. The glow of the sun was just beginning to touch it, and it glittered like a child's picture – the kind where the child has decided that there is no such thing as too many sparkles.

"I suppose it is," Haru said, sadly, though she knew the joke. "It's a shame, I really liked that dress."

"It did look wonderful on you," the orange cat agreed, turning back. "Of course, you're still fetching, even without it."

"You perv!"

Haru and Baron turned at the sound of her son's outraged cry.

"Muta, I'm still dressed, I had my own clothes on underneath, you can come out of the bushes, you won't be scarred I promise," Haru called out, laughing, a hand lightly covering her face, a false attempt to stifle her laughter.

"Mum," Muta breathed out, seeing her, soaked from head to toe, leaning happily on her walking stick and smiling up at him. There was the problem – she was still small. She was still slightly cat-shaped, just like the Baron, except that he had always been that way. "What did they do to you?"

"Not a thing," she answered brusquely, starting to wring some of the water out of her shirt. "I actually stopped to give Princess Kana a little lecture, then her father had a couple of things to say to her. No, son, I'm just fine." It was like Haru had either not noticed, or didn't care that she wasn't human again.

"But Mum, you're still –" he couldn't say it, he didn't know how to. The poor boy, he felt like his heart would break.

"I know," she said, looking up at him. She didn't care, that was all. "You're a big boy now Muta, a man. You don't need an old lady like me taking care of you, and you certainly don't need me to be taken care of."

Haru set her furry, wet jaw and stared up at her son.

"I'm not ready, I don't know how to cope without you Mum," he said, falling to his knees unable to take it any longer.

"No one ever is sweetheart," Haru said, resting a hand on his knee as she looked up at her brave boy. "We all get thrown in the deep end eventually, but you've had good practice, taking care of your old lady all those years. Now you just have to take care of yourself."

Muta picked up his mother, soaking wet though she still was, and hugged her tight.

"I love you too," she said, wrapping her arms around his neck. "Now put me down, go home, get some rest, get that suit dry-cleaned, it looks good on you, you'll get use out of it. Don't worry about me, I'll be fine."

"Will I ever see you again Mum?" he asked, teary as he gently returned her to the ground.

"Oh probably," she said, smiling in a tired, lazy way. "Now go home, go to bed. You have a date, remember?"

Baron stepped up and linked his wet arm with hers, a quietly content smile upon his dripping features.

"I'll take good care of her," he promised, kissing Haru's temple as Toto landed.

"You'd better," the boy said, watching as the figurine helped his mother climb onto the over-sized crow. The older Muta butted his leg as the bird flew off.

"I'll take you home kid," he said.


End file.
